Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products

by Nir Eyal

In fact, several companies have tried to supplant the popular social network. One of the most notable attempts came from a disgruntled developer who decided to build App.net, an ad-free alternative that many tech industry watchers argue is actually a better product. However, like other attempts to copy the service, App.net failed to take off. Why is this? Collecting people to follow on Twitter, as well as collecting followers, provides tremendous value and is a key driver of what keeps Twitter users hooked (figure 28). From the follower side of the equation, the more Twitter users curate the list of people they follow, the better the service will be at delivering interesting content.